Learning Context and Inclusive Design

Learning Context

This course is designed for adults of the general public. Because good health is something everyone is concerned with, and guidelines around healthy eating change over time, we believe that people of all ages and backgrounds can benefit from learning about healthy eating habits.  The language, images, and media we use to deliver the course, while designed to be simple, are targeted towards adults.  We assume access to the Internet, where the course website is hosted.  However, printouts of the content and test can be made.

We are using a mixture of approaches:  We offer Direct Instruction (Frommert, 2023) to deliver content of Canada’s Food Guidelines.  To improve their understanding and apply the guidelines, we created an activity which aligns with Design Thinking (Dam & Teo, 2024), Experiential Learning (Boston University, 2025) and Open Pedagogy (Hegarty, 2015).  Finally, students will engage in Inquiry Based Learning (Inquiry-Based Learning, n.d.) to explore social media myths and misconceptions.

Inclusive Design

To improve accessibility of the course, we have applied tenets of Universal Design for Learning in the following ways (CAST, n.d.):

Multiple Means of Engagement
  • Students are asked to use their own eating habits as starting points for making improved meal plans, personalizing and contextualizing the activity. This activity encourages students to actively participate, exploring with their group members diet adaptions they can realistically make. Because the meal plans are personalized, both starting meals and improved meals are culturally relevant and appropriate for any racial, cultural, or ethnic group. This relevance and authenticity increases engagement.
  • Since students adapt one another’s meal plans and give feedback on the healthfulness and sustainability of improved meal plans, students learn together with others in their group and depend upon one another to work thoughtfully.  They have many opportunities to make and communicate their choices and exercise autonomy.  The interdependence and opportunity to express students’ own interests increase engagement.
  • Since students are expected to improve upon their meal plans at least once, they must reflect upon their progress toward goals and use feedback to advance.  The cultivation of empathy and awareness increases engagement.
Multiple Means of Representation
  • At relevant points in the course, students can choose to read information or to watch a video.  Text on the website is designed to be simple and straightforward, easily navigable by screen readers.  Images contain alt text to support accessibility for those with vision difficulties. 
  • Videos selected for students to watch are hosted on YouTube, which offers closed captioning in many languages.  The multiple options for perception of information and understanding the language used for communication increases access to course content.
  • Instruction explicitly targets social media myths about healthy eating and students are asked to recognize this competing misinformation.  This anchors instruction by breaking down previously held ideas to make way for course content.
  • Instruction also addresses strategies to break unhealthy dietary habits, offering support to apply learning to student’s lives.
Multiple Means of Action & Expression
  • Students may choose to present their improved meal plans through writing, typing, diagrams, or oral communication.  These options support multiple means of action and expression.
  • Students have flexibility in how to present their reflections about social media myths.

References